Nurses' participation in the euthanasia programs of Nazi Germany

During the Nazi era, so-called euthanasia programs were established for han dicapped and mentally ill children and adults. Organized killings of an est imated 70,000 German citizens took place at killing centers and in psychiat ric institutions. Nurses were active participants; they intentionally kille d more than 10,000 people in these involuntary euthanasia programs. After t he war was over most of the nurses were never punished for these crimes aga inst humanity-although some nurses were tried along with the physicians the y assisted. One such trial was of 14 nurses and was held in Munich in 1965. Although some of these nurses reported that they struggled with a guilty c onscience, others did not see anything wrong with their actions, and they b elieved that they were releasing these patients from their suffering.